In recent years there have been several different surgical procedures which have been attempted to correct morbid obesity. These various attempts have included gastric bypasses, small-bowel bypasses and other radical procedures. While these procedures have proven more effective than psychiatric or dietary regimens in achieving substantial and lasting reduction for morbidly obese patients, they have often resulted in frequent and serious physiologic and metabolic derangements. For these reasons, at least one study was begun to develop a more physiologic operation that would reduce caloric intake without altering the continuity of the gastro intestinal track. The objective at the outset of this study was to reduce the reservoir capacity of the stomach and thereby achieve early satiety.
As a result of the aforementioned study, experiments were made on animals involving the inversion of the greater curvature of the stomach. Postoperatively, these animals could eat only small amounts without vomiting and all lost weight. However, within a relatively short period of time following surgery they were observed to be eating progressively larger meals and soon regained normal weight. By tests then made on the animals, it was revealed that their stomachs had regained their normal size and shape. Accordingly, a more lasting method of reducing the reservoir capacity of the stomach was needed. Such a more lasting method comprises the subject of the instant invention wherein the stomach is wrapped in a mesh panel which may be constructed of various materials to be hereinafter more fully set forth. Such a mesh panel does not allow the stomach to expand beyond a predetermined size and may be removed by a subsequent operation, if and when such removal is deemed prudent.
Although various wraps and flexible supportive panels heretofore have been provided such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,111,943, 3,863,639, 3,983,863 and 4,217,890, these wraps and supportive panels are not readily adaptable as wraps for the stomach or usable for the purpose of a stomach wrap.